Review of Brave (2012) by Schnapps — 09 Jan 2013

Brave, as to expected from Pixar, is a visually stunning animated family film with fluid action scenes and a great sense of immersion into this film's created world. The plot of reforging a bond between mother and daughter was undeniably sweet but came across a slightly cliched -- the rebellious child going off and making deals with a witch (The Little Mermaid, anyone?).

One of my main issues was Merida -- her character design seemed to be a bit off. Whilst her hair was amazing and I understand the effort the animators went through to give life to those wildfire-red curls, I parsed over the 2D concept art and believe she would have been transferred to the screen better in a medium that wasn't 3D.

Dialogue wise, some of the Scottish accents seem to have been softened so that audiences could understand -- this does not majorly detract from the film, but it irked me slightly. The humour was a tad generic at times (Her brothers and father) -- but these are all sidenotes.

Merida and her mother and the adventure they go through are this film's selling points and their dialogue, interactions, their hardships and their overarching story are indeed touching and entertaining.

Watch this film as a standalone movie and you won't be disappointed -- try holding it up to Pixar's greats and you might be.